1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic payment system, a recording medium recording an electronic payment program and an electronic payment apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic commerce in which individuals or companies purchase commodities by making use of the Internet has become widespread. In the electronic commerce which is conducted by using the Internet, etc., sellers of commodities introduce commodities by means of brochures, Web pages, e-mail, etc., and send commodities to buyers according to orders placed by the buyers.
As a method of paying the money for a commodity, there is a method of paying it when a buyer places an order for the commodity or after the buyer receives the commodity. From a buyer's point of view, it is desirable for him to pay money for the commodity after actually receiving it, but this method has a risk that no payment may be made to the seller in an accident or through wrongdoing.
On the other hand in the method in which the buyer pays money for the commodity when he places an order for it, there is a risk that the money he has paid may not be repaid to him, if he dose not receive the commodity due to an accident or through wrongdoing, or that the money he has paid may not be repaid to him if he has cancelled the order by means of cooling off, etc.
In other words, from the buyer's point of view, the following problems are likely to arise. (a) Although he has paid money for the commodity, the commodity is not sent to him; (b) although he has cancelled his order and has returned the commodity to the seller, the money he has paid is not repaid to him; and (c) there is a possibility that when he pays the seller, there are insufficient funds in his bank account to cover the required amount. From the seller's point of view, there are the following problems. (d) Although he has sent the commodity, no payment may be made for it by the buyer; and (e) although the order has been cancelled by the buyer, the commodity is not returned by him, and no payment is made by him.
In order to solve the above problems, described, for example, in patent document 1 is a payment method in which a service provider who mediates payment between a buyer and a seller is established, the buyer transfers the money for the commodity to the account of the service provider, and the service provider transfers the money for the commodity to the seller's account after making sure that the buyer has received the commodity.
However, the method of paying money for the commodity through the service provider cannot be said to be a method that fully secures the safety of transactions because anyone else can pretend to be the buyer and instruct the service provider to transfer the purchase price to the seller's account.    [Patent document 1] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-266039 (paragraph 0007)    [Patent document 2] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-167163    [Patent document 3] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-188833    [Patent document 4] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-266031    [Patent document 5] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-306982    [Patent document 6] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-325545    [Patent document 7] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-331754    [Patent document 8] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-331755    [Patent document 9] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-344541    [Patent document 10] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-344542    [Patent document 11] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-344543    [Patent document 12] Jpn. patent publication No. 2001-351041    [Patent document 13] Jpn. patent publication No. 2002-074219